Academy Sports + Outdoors — Local services in Fort Smith

I called before coming in and I spoke with Asante in footwear. I told her upfront my issues I’m having and what I needed. This young woman went above & beyond to help me over the phone. She was checking discounted prices, the extra money off with the sales applied, told me about items that would potentially help me and was just all around very welcoming and light. The past few years have been very stressful for people working with the general public but this woman wasn’t letting anything stop her from being upbeat and energetic. 10/10 customer service. Y’all gotta give his young lady a raise, she’s a gem!

Also on my way out I happened to find another pair of shoes and had stopped a woman who was going on break to ask if they were included in the sale, they were not. She very politely guided to me to the racetrack (walk way) where there were carts with almost the exact same shoes on them but were included in the sale. She could’ve just passed me and said she was on break like I’ve seen alot of other people do at various establishments but she didn’t turn me away because I needed help. People like this are hard to come by and very much appreciated.

The cashier was named Michelle, great energy and she was very easy to talk to. When I seen my total for all the discounts I was actually shocked my total was that cheap! She told me about her own shopping experience at Academy as well. It’s so rare to find great employees like I’ve listed above. Hang onto these women & please make sure they get the recognition...

I ordered a treadmill from Academy online. During the purchase, I received free shipping and all seemed well. My treadmill arrived in a timely manner however, the delivery driver wouldn't bring it up to my apartment unless I assisted him. What was going to happen had I refused to move a 150+ lb treadmill up two flights of stairs because the delivery company planned poorly. I brought this up to a customer service rep via the 800 number. The woman told me that wasn't academy's fault because they contract out delivery. After repeated attempts online and via 800 number, I found out that Academy contracts out to Ceva, who then contracted out to a local delivery place. Where's the accountability and standards? I got told, your email will be forwarded and we will look into it. Well, moving on, I open the box....it requires two people to put together. I wasn't aware of that when Academy offered Assembly assistance. So I asked about that, another $82. Since the delivery to my parking lot wasn't up to my satisfaction Academy said they'd split half of the cost for assembly before tax, so $37.50, or I could return the product for a full refund. Really? Why not pay for the assembly in full? You'd rather lose $500 and a customer vs paying for assembly and putting up information on your website to inform customers why delivery is free? This is the worst experience. I'm staring at a box with a treadmill I cannot afford to put together, but oh, yes, I was offered a 20% off future purchases promo code. I...

I can’t tell you how many times it shows something in stock and I do an order pick up, then they cancel within 3-5 minutes of my order. I came in yesterday looking for the new Meat Church Blanco seasoning. Finally showed in stock Tuesday. Went in Friday, wasn’t on the shelf. Every time I looked an at employee they made them self’s look busy and went in the other direction. I finally just stepped in front of one and asked for help. Reluctantly he pulled up the number for the product. Showed they got it on the truck, but hasn’t been unloaded yet. I said ok when should I come back, he said “oh it would probably be 2-3 days”! I’m like it takes two days to work a truck! No wonder the shelves are always bare. So I waited till today and just went ahead and put an order for pick up in. Was literally 4 minutes later and it was canceled and changed to out of stock. This is my normal experience when I go to Academy Fort Smith. Also happened with a smoker that was in stock, and plenty of other seasoning and Smoking wood that I have order just to be canceled. On the B&B charcoal that they canceled I literally walked in the store after they canceled it 10 minutes later went to the shelf and got it myself sitting on 20 other bags….so I guess they just decide here and there they don’t want to look for something! I would say do better Acadamy, but this has been going on for a long time at the Fort Smith location so I doubt...